THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET, AND RISE OF ISLAM.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SECOND.

Opening of the Eleventh Year of the Hegira April and May, 632, A.D.

The Pretenders who rise up against Mahomet

Opening of the Eleventh Year of the Hegira. 29th March A.D. 632

THE eleventh year of the Hegira opened in peacefulness
at Medina. Mahomet was now chiefly occupied
in the issue of despatches, the nomination of envoys
and governors, and the consolidation of his authority
in the more distant regions or Arabia. The native
chiefs or princes were ordinarily maintained in the
government of their respective territories when they
were found suited to the Prophet's purpose. Instructors and collectors of the tithes were also deputed
as his representatives, charged with political and
judicial functions.

Death of Badzhan and division of his territories.

Badzan, the Persian governor who, as we have
seen, had early submitted himself to Mahomet, died
about this time. His son Shahr was continued
in the government of Sana and the surrounding
district. But the other provinces hitherto combined
under his authority, as Mareb, Najran, and Hamadan
were divided by Mahomet among different governors,

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of whom some were natives of the several districts,
and others persons specially deputed from Medina.1

Three imposters arise claiming the prophetic office

But a new cause of danger began suddenly to
cloud the horizon. Three claimants of the prophetic
office arose, in various quarters of Arabia, to dispute
with Mahomet the supreme authority. Their
assumptions were not, however, developed till near
the close of his life, and the tidings which he received
of their proceedings were hardly of so grave a nature
as to raise serious apprehensions in his mind. I shall
not therefore do more than very briefly notice these
remarkable impostors.

The moment propitious for such pretensions

Besides the temptation to follow in his steps occasioned
by the marvellous success of Mahomet, the
present moment was especially propitious for the
assertion of such claims. The Bedouin tribes, and
distant people who had but lately succumbed to
Islam, began to find its rites irksome, and its
restraints unpalatable. How deep and general was
this feeling, is evident from the almost universal
rebellion which followed the Prophet's death, and
which probably would never have been fully stifled
had not the energies and passions of the Arabs been
directed to foreign conquest. Mahomet was now
well stricken in years, and strangers might perceive
in him the marks of advancing infirmity. His death
could not be far distant. No provision had been

1 See detail of these in Tabari, p.58, et seq. (Kosegarten, 1831.)

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made for a successor, nor for the permanent maintenance
at Medina of a supreme authority over the
Peninsula. If any one were bold enough to assert
that he had received a divine commission, like that
of Mahomet, why should his efforts not be crowned
with similar success?

Tuleiha His rebellion crushed by Khalid

The least important of the three impostors who
now started up with these notions, was Tuleiha,
chief of the Bani Asad, a warrior of note and
influence in Najd.1 his tribe once journeying
through the desert were overpowered by thirst,
when Tuleiha announced to them that water would
be found at a certain spot. The discovery confirmed
his authority and the claims to inspiration
which he had already made. Subsequent to the
death of Mahomet he broke out into open rebellion,
and was defeated, after a severe engagement, by
Khalid 2.

Museilama. His advances indignantly rejected by Mahomet

Museilama has already been noticed as having
accompanied the deputation of the Bani Hanifa to
Medina.3 He was a man of small stature and of
insignificant appearance, but ready and powerful
in speech. Following the example of Mahomet, he
gave forth verses, professed to have been received
from heaven, and he pretended also to work

1 Vide vol. iii. p.199.

2 On Omar's summoning the conquered rebels to join his
standard, Tuleiha submitted, and afterwards with his tribe fought
bravely on the side of Islam.

2 See above, p.217.

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miracles.1 He claimed an authority and mission
concurrent with that of the Prophet of Medina; and
he deceived the people of Yemama by alleging that
the claim had been admitted.2 Mahomet, hearing
the rumour of his insolent pretensions, sent him a
summons to submit to Islam.3 Museilama returned
the reply that he, too, was a prophet like Mahomet
himself:- "I demand therefore that thou divide the
earth with me; as for the Coreish, they are a people
that have no respect for justice" When this letter
was read before him, Mahomet turned with indignation
to the messengers:- "And what do ye yourselves
say to this?" he asked "We say," they replied,
"even as Museilama doth." "By the Lord!" exclaimed Mahomet, "if it were not that ambassadors
are secure, and their lives inviolate, I would have
beheaded both of you!" Then he indited the following answer -"I have received thine epistle, with
its lies and its fabrications against God. Verily, the
earth is the Lord's: He causeth such of his servants
as he pleaseth to inherit the same. Prosperity shall
attend the pious. Peace be to him that followeth

1 So M.C.de Perceval, v. iii. p.310. He had learned the art
of sleight of hand, &C. from conjurors. One of his miracles was
to slip an egg into a narrow-mouthed phial. None of the verses
attributed to him are worth quoting.

2 See the words of Mahomet which he is said to have drawn
into this construction - above, p.217.

the true direction!1 The rebellion and the fate of
Museilama belong to the Caliphate of Abu Bakr.

Rebellion of Aswad

Aswad, the third impostor, differed from the
others, in not only advancing his pretensions, but in
casting off the Mussulman yoke, while Mahomet
was yet alive. A prince of wealth and influence,
he assumed the garb of a magician, and gave out
that he was in communication with the unseen
world. He prosecuted his claims at the first secretly,
and gained over those chiefs who were dissatisfied
with the distribution of power made by Mahomet
on the death of Badzan. About the close of the
tenth year of the Hegira, he openly raised the
standard of rebellion, and drove out the officers of
Mahomet, who fled for refuge to the nearest friendly
country. He advanced on Najran, winch rose in
his favour; he then suddenly fell upon Sana, where
having killed Shahr the son of Badzan, put his army
to flight, and married his widow, he established
himself in undisputed authority. The insurrection,
fanned by this sudden success, spread like wild-fire,
and the greater part of the Peninsula lying between
the provinces of Bahrein, Taif, and the coast, was
soon subject to the usurper.2

1 M. C. de Perceval relates that this letter was written after
Mahomet had been prostrated by fever. I do not find this stated
by the early biographers. Hishami makes the incident to occur
at the end of the tenth year of the Hegira: p.186. It probably
happened early in the eleventh year.

2Tabari, p.56. The proper name of Aswad was Ayhala son

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crushed about the time of Mahomet's death

At what period intimation of this rebellion
reached Mahomet, and what was the nature of
the intelligence he received, is not apparent. The
accounts could not have been very alarming, for he
contented himself with despatching letters to his
officers on the spot, in which he desired them
according to their means, either to assassinate the
pretender, or to attack him in battle.1 Fortunately for the cause of Islam, Aswad, in the pride
of conquest, had already begun to slight the commanders to whose bravery he was indebted for his
success. The agents of Mahomet opened up secret
negotiations with them; and, favoured by the
tyrant's wife, who detested him, and burned to
avenge her late husband's death, plotted the assassination of Aswad. The usurper was slain, according
to tradition, on the very night preceding the death
of Mahomet.2 The insurrection immediately ceased;

of Kab, styled the Ausite, because he sprang from that tribe. He
is also called Dzul Khimar, "the master of the ass," because it
is
said that he had an ass which used to make obeisance before him.
According to others, the name is Dzul Himar, from the wizard's
"veil", or "cloak" which he wore.

1 The officers describe this order thus, Tabari, p.58; the meaning of which I take to be as in the text.

2 The event occurred probably somewhat later.
It is pretended that Mahomet had supernatural intimation of
the Pretender's death on the night preceding his own p.56.

But elsewhere it is said that tidings of the success did not
reach Abu Bakr till the close of the second Rabi, i.e. above a

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and, excepting the disquiet occasioned by some
bands of the pretender's army which continued to
infest the country, the authority of Mahomet's name
was fully re-established.

month and a half after the Prophet's death. Tabari, p.74. News
of such an event would travel swiftly, probably in not more than:
a fortnight or three weeks at most. I am therefore inclined to
believe that the overthrow of Aswad did not take place till several
weeks after Mahomet's death ;-which supposition will likewise
admit of the whole career of the impostor being dated later, and
will explain why Mahomet and Aba Bakr had not earlier
intimation of its alarming progress.

Tradition naturally clings to the miraculous supposition that
Mahomet had supernatural information of the event before his
decease; add hence antedates the event itself.